Steve McNair retired from the NFL today. There is a 1pm press conference scheduled. We wish Steve well in this next stage of his life, but we still consider him one of the most over-hyped football players of his generation.

McNair got the nickname "McHurt" from Colts fans because it always seemed that he was injured and that when he played on Sunday it was because of his "amazing" powers to tolerate pain and be "tough." The reality is McNair was a lazy player who did not condition himself well in the off-seasons and, as a consequence, got hurt A LOT when he played on Sundays. Here is CBS' Pete Prisco discussing McNair some time ago:

McNair's co-MVP award, which he shared with Peyton Manning in 2003, was a sham and a farce. Peyton should have been the lone recipient of that award that year, especially considering his Colts swept the Titans that season and won the AFC South. I recall several MVP voters later stating they wished they'd voted for Peyton over McNair. Some even admitted that they voted for McNair over Peyton because they felt Peyton couldn't "win big games."

Again, further proof that our national sports press corps is completely and utterly clueless.

For the first portion of his career, McNair tormented the Colts not necessarily because he was good (he wasn't) but because the teams he was on were better. When the Titans shifted more towards throwing the ball, that is about the time Indy started owning the Titans.

From a personal stand point, I'm glad McNair is retired because it was obvious he was done. I don't want lingering injury to last throughout the rest of his life. From a football stand point, McNair was highly over-rated and waaaaaaaaay over-hyped. If anyone suggests HoF for this guy, they will get a swift backhand from me (and just about everyone else). Yes, that includes you Gus Johnson.

McNair finishes his career with 31,304 yards, 174 TDs, and 119 INTs. Check out Music City Miracles and Baltimore Beatdown for more posts on McNair's retirement.

Update [2008-4-17 18:24:18 by BigBlueShoe]: There were some comments in the post that were deleted because they were racially insensitive. My apologies to anyone offended. I personally will not stand for anyone who makes the suggestion (let alone flat out states) that my opinions of Steve McNair or any minority player are racially motivated or biased. You can disagree with me all you want. I encourage you to disagree. But, in order to belittle my argument, if you call me, or anyone else here, a racist because we don't think McNair, or Vince Young, or Michael Vick are good players because they are African Americans, that is the fast track to Bansville; Population: Arrogant morons who want to dismiss an opinion by implying a racist agenda where non exists.

Again, apologies to anyone offended by some of the contributors comments others made in this thread.